15. Divine Armaments?

Unbelievable

That's what everyone in the square was thinking when the huge boar disappeared, just as the residents had thought 'what just happened' in the tavern the night before.

The vast majority, in fact all, of the newcomers were certain that nothing would happen and they would soon be able to eat a huge delicacy with a wild boar, one of the few animals altered by corruption that was still edible and according to some travelers said it could give powers to those who start.

But instead, the large animal that needed 4 adult men to transport it simply disappeared in front of everyone's eyes. Some thought it was some trick of an illusionist, charlatans who used tricks to pretend to be magicians and enjoy a good life until they were discovered.

Others thought it was some joke on the part of the residents to try to lighten the heavy atmosphere and then they would show the animal back to eat (needless to say, those who thought this were the few gluttons who had managed to get here).

But the overwhelming majority of both newcomers and locals still wondering what had happened last night, were immediately speechless when they saw the white aura that surrounded the boar before it disappeared, what kind of trick would an illusionist do to achieve something like that? They were charlatans, yes, but if there was someone capable of doing that, would it really matter if he was a real wizard?!

While some tried to understand or simply deny what had happened, a small group was elated, these were Hannah, Ivan, the 3 who helped bring the boar and Sofi, although she was more... restrained.

It had been a good few minutes since the boar had disappeared but the buzz from the crowd didn't seem like it would end anytime soon, amidst the noise a man came running up to Ivan, looking agitated and said something that made him frown immediately.

Just as he was about to go look for Gerard, he appeared next to Constance with a basket of sandwiches for the men who had helped the hunter with the boar.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're not a medium or have some power that you don't want to talk about" he joked with his friend.

"I don't need something like that in its current state, there's always something going on somewhere in the village that needs attention. And what would be the problem now?" He asked, a little away from his daughter but not too much.

"It looks like the goblins—"

Before the hunter could say what the man had told him to his friend, the stone altar suddenly began to glow in a white light, strong enough to attract attention and cover all sounds of conversation but not strong enough to prevent see the small altar.

Moments later the light seemed to extend two beams straight ahead and these beams soon took shape, the fetish on the right forming a beautiful steel sword with a lightly decorated hilt but from the gleam of the blade it was obvious that it was a deadly weapon. The beam on the left slowly turned into a wooden staff with some strange markings near the tip.

As quickly as it appeared the light disappeared and the two items were simply placed delicately on the floor.

Nobody said anything, many weren't even breathing thanks to the amazement of what had just happened. Those who still believed (or tried to convince themselves) that the boar's disappearance was some kind of trick had no idea how they could explain it away as some kind of trick.

The daze was broken when a large man walked in front of Hannah and picked up the sword from the ground. This was Barton, the village blacksmith, with all the care he could muster he took the sword and looked at it in detail, the handle, the thickness of the blade, signs of bonding, tempering flaws or delaminations, even just doing an initial analysis he was able to say that this sword had none of that.

Even the best blacksmiths he knew wouldn't come close to a weapon of that caliber, whether in the village of Oak or in the big cities or even in the capital of the kingdom, this weapon made even the best weapon he had ever seen in the capital (even if he only managed to look at the weapons and blacksmiths in the middle part of the city and at a glance at the knights' weapons) they looked like pieces of crudely beaten iron compared to the elegance placed on this weapon.

But it wasn't just her appearance that was surprising, her weight and balance were also unbelievable. To quickly test both, he balanced the weapon right on the pinky of his right hand, it was completely stable without leaning to any side even with him moving his arm.

There was no need to check the edge of the sword, even an amateur could tell that the blade would cut through bones with ease.

"This... This really is... A weapon made by gods!! Something on the level that no mortal can ever make!!!" He exclaimed with as much reverence as he could muster.

Everyone in the square, even those at the back, could hear him and see the weapon in the huge man's hands. Everyone there also knew at least a little about Barton, as he had caught the attention of a great blacksmith in the capital who had returned after helping with the subjugation of some monsters years ago.

How this blacksmith had taken him on as an apprentice, how he had appointed him as the successor to his techniques when he had made a knight-level sword already at the age of 13, and how he had returned home after creating a true work of art for the family of a Duke (according to some rumors Barton was involved with the Duke's daughter, but nothing has been proven, although every month he still receives some sealed crates from the capital in addition to sealed crates on all his birthdays).

So when he said that no mortal, and he said non-human mortal included in that statement the elves and even dwarves like his master, could replicate the level of that sword they had no option but to believe. Not that it was very difficult, a sword appearing from a beam of white light coming from a small stone altar where a giant boar had disappeared minutes before?

If this weapon hadn't come from a God, where else would it come from?

That's why many people couldn't understand why a staff appeared next to the sword, some knew that staffs were accessories used mainly by wizards, but they usually had some type of jewel at the end and seemed to be more... mystical. The staff that appeared from the fetish in comparison looked completely normal, it had some strange inscriptions but other than that it looked nothing like the staffs that wizards were said to use.

Not that there was anyone there who could say with absolute certainty what a wizard's staff was like, but beliefs in the stories one hears since he used fraud are a difficult thing to overcome.

Well, no one there with perhaps one exception.

Another factor that helped with this distrust was the known fact that magicians in general did not like the idea of ​​the divine, whether because he could judge them for the wrong use of their powers, whether because the gods had more power than they could ever have or because of gods representing beliefs in something that had no explanation, something that the magicians claimed was nonsense, that everything did have an explanation beyond "Because the gods wanted it to be that way".

Because of this, the staff was partially forgotten by people who paid more attention to the sword, a weapon they knew and was synonymous with strength and nobility (although for many residents this notion of nobility did not mean much), in addition to being relatively easy. to use.

But a person in the square knew very well that between the sword and the staff, the most valuable object was certainly the staff.

Sofi knew that many had a preconceived notion of what mafia user staffs would look like because of mages, but many forgot that mages weren't the only ones who could use magic, only the ones who managed to survive until now.

Before Corruption appeared, in addition to magicians, there were also sorcerers, witches, druids, alchemists who used magic, enchanters, etc. But with the practice of decreasing magical energy, most other users were unable to exercise their magic as freely as magicians who used their inner energy and projected it into reality through a medium being the staffs or the stones in those staffs.

Sofi knew that a staff like the one that just appeared in front of her would be an invaluable treasure for any practitioner of magic regardless of type. So when he saw the staff, saw the inscriptions on the type and realized what it was, his main thought and the emotion he felt was...

'I want to break that miserable thing into pieces and use it as firewood for the fire'

Pure hate.

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A/N: I remember I mentioned the blacksmith's name briefly before, but I ended up forgetting, so from now on he'll be called Barton ok.